General trends in governance have an impact on natural resource management. The trend towards decentralisation and strengthening local democracy has affected the comparative influence of actors at different levels on the exploitation of natural resources. Trade is also likely to become an increasingly pressing issue. It has profound impacts on domestic and local governance of natural resources. There is also the issue of transparency relating to natural resource extraction. This is best exemplified by the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). Improving governance through greater transparency seems to be correlate with greater voice and accountability and a stronger business climate, though it is unclear whether there are any causal links.
